Superstorm Sandy Dents Retail Sales

U.S. retail sales dropped overall in October partly as a result of superstorm Sandy that hit much of the East Coast in the last week of the month.

Retail and food-service sales fell 0.3% last month to a seasonally adjusted $411.59 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The decline was slightly larger than economists forecast for a 0.2% decrease.

The Commerce Department said the storm had both positive and negative...